


That's What's Bothering You

by karaluvsketchup



Category: Blue Bloods (TV)
Genre: Danny is a good big bro, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Poor Dead Joe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 06:10:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10155839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karaluvsketchup/pseuds/karaluvsketchup
Summary: Danny always gets a kick out of it when he calls for backup and it comes in the form of his little brother, and, well, he’d prefer not to be beat to hell by the time that backup arrives, but he’s still glad that that’s who responded.





	

“What do you think, wait for backup?” Baez suggests as they get out of the car, vested up and ready to go.

Ready to go being the operative term here, Danny thinks. “Nah, let’s go get this guy,” he tells his partner.

She follows his lead and the two of them enter the building and take the stairs to the third floor, quickly finding 3C, their suspect’s apartment, where they take their places on either side of the door before Danny knocks. “NYPD, open the door,” Danny calls out.

The door doesn’t open - big surprise there - but Danny can hear footsteps, at least one person walking around inside. He and Baez lock eyes for a second, she nods, and he kicks the door in.

Their suspect, a Manolo Sandoval, stops in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, while another man - six feet, latino, jeans, dark blue shirt, work boots, Danny automatically logs into his memory - runs toward the back of the apartment. Sandoval is reaching toward his waistband, which makes him their biggest problem. Both detectives train their guns on him, and Baez yells out, “Don’t even think about it, hands in the air.” Sandoval complies and in a matter of seconds she has his gun and Danny has him on the floor and is putting him in handcuffs.

“I’ll call it in, go.” Baez tells Danny once the cuffs are snapped into place, and he goes after the man who ran to the back of the apartment. There’s an open bedroom door, and an open window leading out to the fire escape, but the runner has a good head start, and is already out of sight once Danny climbs out the window. He most likely went down to the alley instead of up onto the roof, so Danny heads down, taking the stairs two at a time and then practically sliding down the ladder to the ground.

Now, if the guy were smart, he would be out of the alley by now, and with two directions to choose from and only one of Danny, he’d have a chance at getting away.

That’s not the way it goes this time, though. The moment Danny’s feet hit the pavement, he gets tackled from the side, and before he has time to react in any meaningful way, he’s landing hard on his left shoulder. He manages to shove the guy off of him and is in the process of getting to his feet when he gets hit with an uppercut that makes his head spin. He gets a couple of solid blows in, manages to stand up on the second try, but the fight doesn’t last long before the side of his head gets slammed into a brick wall and he goes down and stays down.

He fumbles for his gun, manages to get it out of it’s holster, but his opponent just kicks him in the ribs a couple of times and starts running before he has a chance to use it. After a few more seconds, the alley is lit by the red and blue flashing lights of backup arriving, and he hears car doors opening and someone shouting “Stop! Police!” He tries to sit up, gets as far as propping himself up on an elbow long enough to see two officers holding the guy at gunpoint, then he falls back down. The adrenaline that was keeping him conscious starts to run out, and his eyes slide shut.

***

The next thing he’s aware of is a familiar voice right above him. “Danny! Danny, can you hear me?”

He tries to open his eyes, doesn’t quite manage it, but he is able to say “Yes.” in response to his brother’s question. Or at least he thinks he said it, it might have come out as more of just a moan.

“Twelve-David to central, I have an officer down at this location, send a bus, forthwith.” Danny always gets a kick out of it when he calls for backup and it comes in the form of his little brother, and, well, he’d prefer not to be beat to hell by the time that backup arrives, but he’s still glad that that’s who responded. He feels hands patting him down, probably checking for blood. “Danny, open your eyes, are you okay?”

On the second try, he gets his eyes open, at least halfway, but his head’s spinning and he can’t really focus. “J - Joe.” Danny manages to get the name out, this time he thinks he actually managed to say a word and not just moan, and he thinks his brother would be relieved by that but he just gets this weird look on his face. Danny tries to sit up, but doesn’t make much progress on that front.

“Hey, stay still, I think you’ve got a concussion or something.” There’s a hand on his chest holding him down, so he stops trying to sit up, but he doesn’t think he’s that bad off.

“I’m okay, Joe.”

“Hey, Danny, look at me. It’s me, it’s Jamie.”

Oh. Of course it is. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t be,” Jamie sighs. “It’s okay, just stay with me, help’s on the way.”

Danny hears someone jogging over and Eddie appears in his field of vision, standing above Jamie. “Is he okay?” She asks.

“I don’t know, Eddie, he’s pretty out of it.” Jamie tells his partner. “What do you know?”

“We ran that guy’s ID, he’s on parole after doing ten years for manslaughter. Killed somebody in a bar fight.” Eddie reports. “Thompson and his partner have him in their car, and two more officers went in to get the guy that Detective Baez has under.”

“Good.” Jamie tells her. He pulls out a handkerchief and presses down on a cut above Danny’s ear, which he knows is bleeding pretty good. Danny hisses, and Jamie says, “Sorry. Are you hurt anywhere other than your head?”

“Nothing serious.”

“Humor me, where are you hurt?”

Fine. “Ribs,” Danny tells him. “And my shoulder. Don’t think anything’s broken, though.”

“Okay, EMT’s will be here soon and we’ll get you checked out. Do you remember what happened?”

“Uh, yeah, I followed the guy out the window and down the fire escape… thought he’d run but he was waiting for me at the bottom…suprised me… should have been more careful.”

Jamie looks down toward the end of the alley where he left his car. “He might’ve gotten away if he didn’t waste his time fighting you.”

Danny nods in agreement, then regrets that as even the small head movement makes him dizzy. “He wasn’t the one we were here for, either.”

“No kidding?”

“Well, if criminals were smart we wouldn’t catch them.”

“He smartened up once he had two guns pointed in his face,” Eddie supplies.

“Too little, too late.” Jamie says.

Jamie and Eddie stay with Danny until the EMT’s arrive, and Jamie lets them know that he was unconscious for about a minute - the estimate they’d come up with based on how much time passed between Jamie arriving on scene, which Danny does remember, and Jamie finding Danny on the ground forty feet down the alleyway. Jamie also shares that Danny was disoriented when he first came to, but doesn’t include the detail that he called him Joe, which Danny is grateful for.

After they get him up on the stretcher, Baez appears at his side. “You all right, partner?” she says, concern obvious on her face.

“Yeah, they think I got a concussion, no big deal,” he assures her.

She looks over to one of the EMT’s for confirmation. “He needs to be checked out by a doctor, but it doesn’t look too serious,” he tells her.

“See, I’m fine, you get Sandoval back to the squad and get going with the interrogation and I’ll see you later.”

“Jamie, you going with him to the hospital?” Baez asks. Jamie nods. “Okay, keep me updated,” she tells him.

“Yeah, of course.” Jaime pulls out his cell phone as Baez walks away. “I’m going to call Linda and Dad.”

“Tell them not to worry, alright?” Because apart from the dizziness and headache and a touch of nausea he’s not in too bad of shape and this whole thing is starting to feel like more trouble than it’s worth.

***

A couple of hours later Danny’s in an ER bed with his wife and brother by his side, and his head injury has been ruled to be no more or less than a concussion. He’s got five stitches on the side of his head, a few butterfly bandages on his face, and a sling so his bruised shoulder can rest for a few days. Officially, he’s off work until the concussion symptoms go away, but he’s been cleared to go home.

“What’s with you two?” Linda asks as they wait for the doctor to come back with discharge papers.

“What do you mean?” Jamie says.

“You’re both being really quiet, is there something going on between the two of you?”

Danny and Jamie look at each other, Jamie just shrugs, and Danny says, “We’re fine, honey.”

Linda looks skeptical. “I’m going to go check on that paperwork,” she says before walking out of the room. Danny didn’t think they were being that obvious, but clearly she’s figured out that there’s something the two brothers need to talk about.

“You calling me by Joe’s name.” Jamie says once she’s out of the room. “That’s what’s bothering you.”

“It’s bothering you too, I can tell.”

“Hey, you had a head injury, you’d just been assaulted by a guy who turned out to be an MMA fighter, you said the wrong name, it’s okay.”

“I didn’t just call you by the wrong name though,” Danny frowns. “For a few seconds there, I really thought it was him.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know why I thought that, in almost nine years I’ve never for a minute forgotten he’s gone.”

“Hey, I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure getting your head slammed into a brick wall can do that kind of thing. You don’t need to feel guilty about it. And don’t worry about me, it just threw me a little bit.” Jamie seems sincere, and Danny nods, accepting it. “How did it feel?” Jamie asks. “When you thought Joe was there with you?”

“Well, since I didn’t realize he _shouldn’t_ be there, guess I felt the same way I felt about you being there once I got that straightened out.”

“And how’s that?”

“You fishing for compliments, kid?” Danny accuses. “I was glad that when I really needed backup, my little brother, who’s a damn good cop, was the one who showed up.”

“Thanks, Danny.” Jamie smiles.

“Hey, I mean it. Joe would be proud of who you’ve become.”

Jamie nods. “I hope so.”

“I know so.”


End file.
